Blog

May 15, 2023

Things to know if you're Three Rivers Arts Festival bound

PITTSBURGH – Here's what you need to know if you're headed to the Dollar Bank

PITTSBURGH – Here's what you need to know if you're headed to the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, the most heavily attended southwest Pennsylvania event.

When & What: The 64th annual event begins June 2 and runs through June 11, offering 10 days of free art and music. Hundreds of artists from around the region and nation join free music concerts on multiple stages, gallery exhibitions, public art, film, theater, creative activities for all ages, and the popular Artist Market. Events and artists can be sorted by day and genre at TrustArts.org/TRAF.

Where: The Artist Market is in a new location spanning both sides of Fort Duquesne Boulevard, stretching between Sixth and Ninth streets (or between the Roberto Clemente and Rachel Carson bridges.) The adjusted location will provide more space for shoppers to circulate between booths compared to previous layouts like Gateway Center. As always, the 300 artists ― the most since pre-pandemic ― will changeover throughout the festival's 10-day run.

The main concert stage also has been moved, and now is on Fort Duquesne Boulevard, directly across the river from PNC Park. "Pro tip: It'll be a great spot to watch the fireworks (after the Pittsburgh Pirates game June 9)," Sarah Aziz, director of festival management for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, said.

The main stage will be similar in location and scope ― a bit bigger, actually ― to 2021's well-received Allegheny Overlook stage.

"It feels more like Pittsburgh," Aziz said, comparing the new spot along the city's Allegheny riverfront to last year's main stage location amid the tall buildings at Ninth Street and Penn Avenue, which drew mixed reviews.

A mobile bar there will sell adult beverages, so concertgoers will be able to enjoy beer, wine or cocktails this year.

Who's performing: The main concert stage hosts KT Tunstall, June 2; Galactic, June 3; Rising Appalachia, June 4; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, June 5; Lizz Wright, June 6; Red Baraat, June 7; Corinne Bailey Rae, June 8; Mo Lawda & The Humble, June 9; Chali 2na & Cut Chemist, June 10, the Taj Mahal Quartet, June 11. Showtimes are 7:30 to 9 p.m. The main stage music kicks off at noon June 2 with one of Pittsburgh's premiere Americana/roots-rock bands, Bindley Hardware Co.

Long based at Point State Park, the arts festival moved to the Cultural District after new rules were implemented by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources preventing a 10-day festival at the park.

"We learned a lot last year and are now building on the successes of our first festival located entirely in the Cultural District," Aziz, of festival organizers the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, said.

The Food: Anonymous surveys convinced the Cultural Trust that people prefer the main food vendor area to be near the main stage. So food vendors will be stationed off Eighth Street between Penn Avenue and Fort Duquesne Boulevard. There will be more seating, such as picnic tables and Adirondack chairs, compared to last year when furniture orders didn't arrive on time, Aziz said.

A convoy of food trucks also will operate at Stanwix and Sixth streets.

For visual arts fans: The annual Juried Visual Art Exhibition showcasing exceptional new art by regional artists selected in a blind jury process will be inside SPACE Gallery (812 Liberty Ave.) This year's theme highlights the ways artists take up space within their practices physically, psychologically, emotionally and relationally.

The nearby Backyard at 8th & Penn hosts three multidisciplinary public art attractions, including "Utterance" by Pittsburgh-based, nationally recognized sculptor, Jim West. The symbolic mixed-media sculpture uses illumination and volume control to explore how humans need to quiet the noise, and not talk over one another, to hear and be heard.

"We Are All Connected To Each Other Through Nature," a 12-foot-by-12-foot-by-18-foot walkthrough installation also located in the Backyard, was created by Los Angeles-based artist Laurie Shapiro. Shapiro used water-based paints and screen-printed drawings on vinyl over metal truss with handmade lighting. The work is presented in association with this year's "Anthropology of Motherhood" an annual art space, interactive amenity and place of respite for families with young children located inside 819 Penn Ave., which neighbors the Backyard.

More to see and do: Squonk's Hand to Hand, which premiered in PPG Plaza in 2019, returns to Pittsburgh for two final performances on June 10 at noon and 3 p.m. in the Backyard. Propelled by two giant puppet hands, each the size of a house and rigged like a sailing ship, the performance adds Squonk's original progressive rock for a journey said to be spectacular, plaintive and comic.

Nearby, the Backyard Stage will be active every day, hosting more than 15 performances by an array of Pittsburgh-based musical artists such as The Living Street, at 5 p.m. June 5 and Pierce Dipner Band, at 3 p.m. June 11.

More:Splish, splash: Get cool at these Beaver Valley public pools & lakes

The Green Mountain Energy Stage, active on weekends only at the nearby corner of Fort Duquesne Boulevard and Seventh Street, will add to the atmosphere with two musical shows each Saturday and Sunday.

Other options: The Giant Eagle Creativity Zone returns to Trust Oasis, 133 Seventh St., featuring 20 arts organizations and community partners providing families with hands-on activities, noon-6 p.m. daily.

The Harris Theater will provide free screenings of "What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat, and Tears," "Little Richard: I Am Everything; and the Thelonious Monk documentary, "Rewind and Play."

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's gallery spaces will be activated from noon-8 p.m., with "Traveling While Black," a cinematic virtual reality experience that immerses viewers in the long history of restriction of movement for Black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in communities, at 820 Liberty Gallery. The internationally recognized UVA (United Visual Artists), a London-based collective, continues its run at Wood Street Galleries. Juried Visual Art Exhibition juror, Steve Alexis, has his own show at 707 Penn Gallery called "in spite of me, here you are."

Trust Arts Education Center (805-807 Liberty Ave.) hosts Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company's presentation of "12:52 The Mike Webster Story," and the Glow Zone for glow-in-the-dark fun with a DJ and hands-on activities.

"We live in a super fun city, and there's a lot going on in those 10 days," Aziz said, advising there will be extra pedestrian and motor traffic due to the Pirates' homestand, the June 2 Kansas concert at the Benedum Center and Pride on The Shore on June 3 based at Stage AE.

Her advice is to leave yourself extra time, check the festival's website for road detour info, and download the Go Mobile PGH app that provides real-time updates on city parking garage parking availability.

Lineup changes and additions will be continually updated at TrustArts.org/TRAF.

Aziz said, "Plan a whole fun day in the city."

More:Lizzo delivered action, fun & inspiration at sold-out Pittsburgh concert

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at [email protected].